11 more Miami-Dade schools employees among confirmed COVID-19 cases, dashboard shows
Miami Herald | by Michelle Marchante | October 15, 2020
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has confirmed nearly 30 COVID-19 cases since schools reopened for in-person learning last week, according to the school district’s COVID-19 dashboard. The increase comes after 11 employees were added to the dashboard Thursday morning, bringing the confirmed employee count to 13.
No new student cases were added, leaving the student count at 14.
The employees could be teachers, custodians, or cafeteria and office workers.
One of the new employee cases was reported at Miami Beach Senior High School, 2231 Prairie Ave., and another was reported at Hammocks Middle School, 9889 Hammocks Blvd. Neither school has any confirmed student cases listed.
Two more employees have also tested positive at Poinciana Park Elementary, 6745 NW 23rd Ave., bringing the school’s COVID-19 count to three employees and no students.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has previously told the Miami Herald that the COVID-19 Dashboard is programmed to look for new data several times a day and will be updated when the new data is found with confirmed cases only.
The district said employee cases are added if they are self-reported or confirmed by the Florida Department of Health. Student cases, including those that are self-reported, are added as they are confirmed by the Florida Department of Health. The dashboard will not include online-only students or employees who are not working on campus.
Coral Park Elementary, which reopened Thursday after it switched to online learning for a day because an employee and three students had tested positive for COVID-19, still does not have the third student case listed on the dashboard.
The school closed Wednesday for a deep cleaning and to give officials time to contact those who may have been exposed to the employee and students.
The first Miami-Dade County public school to close for a deep cleaning was MAST Academy, a 6-12 school on the Rickenbacker Causeway with 1,500 students. It switched to online learning Monday after two students tested positive for COVID-19. The magnet school reopened Tuesday.
More than 45 Broward County public schools staff members and one student have also tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as of Monday. The numbers came out four days after Broward public schools opened their doors to students for in-person learning. Broward will not update its numbers until Friday.
Photo: Miami Beach middle and high school students are cautiously optimistic about returning to in-person classes during the coronavirus pandemic. By Matias J. Ocner
